B in biochem

[Kvk00]

I came from a community college and didn't have any idea what I wanted to do with my life. long story short I shadowed a doctor and decided I wanted to become a doctor and raised my 2.98 GPA to a 3.67 at my community college and then left and now have a 3.98 at my university. I'm taking biochem online and its been super hard trying to learn but I have an 88% in the class but how my professor grades, he would make that a B. My question is giving my GPA, how would med schools look at that and should I take the B and forget about it or take it again in the spring?

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[Blueprint Med School]

I would forget about it. B's are not the end of the world. If you have something like a 3.8+ in your late University career that's going to show an upward trend that shows you got serious and put in some serious work. A singular B is not going to undo all of that.

David D MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[KnightDoc]

I came from a community college and didn't have any idea what I wanted to do with my life. long story short I shadowed a doctor and decided I wanted to become a doctor and raised my 2.98 GPA to a 3.67 at my community college and then left and now have a 3.98 at my university. I'm taking biochem online and its been super hard trying to learn but I have an 88% in the class but how my professor grades, he would make that a B. My question is giving my GPA, how would med schools look at that and should I take the B and forget about it or take it again in the spring?

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! "A"s are preferable, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with an occasional B. Dropping and retaking it will make it look way worse than it is (like you were heading for an F!), and will needlessly subject you unnecessary extra work. Absolutely do not consider this under any circumstances. This isn't even a close call.

 

[Mkif586]

Dropping and retaking it will make it look way worse than it is (like you were heading for an F!), and will needlessly subject you unnecessary extra work. Absolutely do not consider this under any circumstances. This isn't even a close call.

Why there is so much hype on SDN regarding Ws? Why do people feel it is worth than F? This is just not true! Though I would prefer B over W, but saying that somehow W is worse than F is nonsense, at least because F will tank your GPA while W will not.

 

[KnightDoc]

Why there is so much hype on SDN regarding Ws? Why do people feel it is worth than F? This is just not true! Though I would prefer B over W, but saying that somehow W is worth than F is nonsense, at least because F will tank your GPA while W will not.

Why? Because while a W will not kill an application, it is certainly not viewed favorably, and the implication is that it to avoid something much worse than a B. That's why. You may have misunderstood, if you thought I meant taking a F is better than a W. It never would be. By the same token, a W would never be better than a B, and, in most cases, would not even be better than a C since you'd also have to retake a class that you otherwise would have passed, and one or two Cs would not do enough damage to a GPA to be worth the effort.

A W is not the end of the world, but it also is not a badge of honor. It is preferable to an F, but otherwise, if you have done the work and are going to pass the class, you are usually better off taking the C and moving on. I'm not sure why this is a discussion, though, because you too would prefer a B, so why are you questioning the advice?

Do you honestly think any adcom looks at a W and views it the same as if there were a blank space on the transcript? If that were the case, schools wouldn't report Ws at all. Ws generally indicate a problem that caused the student to withdraw, rather than a passing grade that the student wanted to improve by taking the class again. If you have an emergency and need to withdraw from a semester, adcoms would be understanding and forgiving. If you are selectively using Ws to avoid bad grades, adcoms understand that as well, and view them accordingly. And, the assumption is, they are avoiding something far worse than a B or a C.

 

[PigsHaveWings]

Why there is so much hype on SDN regarding Ws? Why do people feel it is worth than F? This is just not true! Though I would prefer B over W, but saying that somehow W is worse than F is nonsense, at least because F will tank your GPA while W will not.

From what I have heard before, adcoms equate a W to being at least a C or lower, if the course was continued.

 

[Mkif586]

If you are selectively using Ws to avoid bad grades, adcoms understand that as well, and view them accordingly.

Wo wo. Isn’t it why W grade exists after all? I do believe that let’s say C in a 5 credit class is (though being a passing grade) worse than W. We are not comparing blank space with W, we are comparing bad grade with W. In your original post you attacked W too harsh claiming gpa hit other than F is more preferable than W, I mildly disagree. If I had a choice between C and W, I would pick W, though OP asked about B, we already went off the topic but anyway. 2-3 Cs may actually very well ruin an application that otherwise would be fine - let’s say 90 credit student with 3.7 accidentally receives 3 Cs - it would drop the gpa to 3.45. Going from strong MD stat to somewhat average DO is a very serious damage. In my opinion if one encounters academic hardship or being a freshman didn’t adequately estimate abilities and took more workload than they should, dropping couple classes is better than damaging GPA.
I would quote mister @Goro to prove my point

SDN has this obsession with withdrawals. They seem to almost treat them as worse as failures or D grades.

There are too many people who ruined their Medical Careers because they try to bulldoze through when they are not at their best and then they end up wrecking their gpas.

 

[Goro]

I came from a community college and didn't have any idea what I wanted to do with my life. long story short I shadowed a doctor and decided I wanted to become a doctor and raised my 2.98 GPA to a 3.67 at my community college and then left and now have a 3.98 at my university. I'm taking biochem online and its been super hard trying to learn but I have an 88% in the class but how my professor grades, he would make that a B. My question is giving my GPA, how would med schools look at that and should I take the B and forget about it or take it again in the spring?

Chill. You'll be fine

 

[Goro]

Wo wo. Isn’t it why W grade exists after all? I do believe that let’s say C in a 5 credit class is (though being a passing grade) worse than W. We are not comparing blank space with W, we are comparing bad grade with W. In your original post you attacked W too harsh claiming gpa hit other than F is more preferable than W, I mildly disagree. If I had a choice between C and W, I would pick W, though OP asked about B, we already went off the topic but anyway. 2-3 Cs may actually very well ruin an application that otherwise would be fine - let’s say 90 credit student with 3.7 accidentally receives 3 Cs - it would drop the gpa to 3.45. Going from strong MD stat to somewhat average DO is a very serious damage. In my opinion if one encounters academic hardship or being a freshman didn’t adequately estimate abilities and took more workload than they should, dropping couple classes is better than damaging GPA.
I would quote mister @Goro to prove my point

On sdn, readers have to learn how to discern which pre-med posters are savvy, like yourself (and I'm not saying that because you agree with me but because you are astute), and those who are so willfully ignorant of the admissions process that their advice is not just ignore the ignorant, but actually malicious.

Trying to discern which one is which can be an art form.

 

[Talldoctor96]

I had a 3.55. I had a b in Chem, physics,orgo,biochem, molec cell... I could keep going. Accepted MD. Keeping it above a C you’re gucci

 

[KnightDoc]

On sdn, readers have to learn how to discern which pre-med posters are savvy, like yourself (and I'm not saying that because you agree with me but because you are astute), and those who are so willfully ignorant of the admissions process that their advice is not just ignore the ignorant, but actually malicious.

Trying to discern which one is which can be an art form.

So, just to make sure I, as a less than savvy premed understand, are you an advocate of withdrawing from classes in which you are passing in order to marginally increase your GPA while being forced to retake the classes? And, are you suggesting that adcoms are fine with this, and that a few As the second time around receive the same value and respect as grades from classes taken the first time?

I'm not asking about a medical withdrawal or anything like that -- I'm just asking about withdrawing from a class here and there when it turns out I'm not doing as well as I would like. Thanks for your wisdom!!!

P.S. I can assure everyone that there is absolutely no element of willfulness in any of my possible ignorance. It is fair to question if the same could be said about someone with a long tenure in the industry and a ton of goodwill and credibility on this forum who obstinately refuses to consider objective facts that conflict with his preconceived notions when posting opinion and advice.

 

[Mkif586]

So, just to make sure I, as a less than savvy premed understand, are you an advocate of withdrawing from classes in which you are passing in order to marginally increase your GPA while being forced to retake the classes? And, are you suggesting that adcoms are fine with this, and that a few As the second time around receive the same value and respect as grades from classes taken the first time?

I'm not asking about a medical withdrawal or anything like that -- I'm just asking about withdrawing from a class here and there when it turns out I'm not doing as well as I would like. Thanks for your wisdom!!!

P.S. I can assure everyone that there is absolutely no element of willfulness in any of my possible ignorance. It is fair to question if the same could be said about someone with a long tenure in the industry and a ton of goodwill and credibility on this forum who obstinately refuses to consider objective facts that conflict with his preconceived notions when posting opinion and advice.

Unless you do it every semester to save 4.0 you shall be fine. In this case it will raise some eyebrows but simply because adcoms don’t like perfections since the latter tend not to do well in medicine. Couple Ws here and there (given you retook then with A) are more preferable. Some adcoms might view them as the same, some will view them as less impressive (gpa inflation exists) but at the end of the day med school admissions is 90% a number game, and you either have the numbers or you don’t. Don’t forget that there are many applicants who are near the bottom line of being competitive - nobody wants to drop below that point. Like if you have 3.4 which is still fine for DO but after couple Cs you end up with 3.2 which will definitely make your application less competitive.
Bottom line/TLDR: as long as you don’t have perfectionist syndrome and don’t do it every semester, 2-3 Ws scattered throughout 4-5 years of undergrad will not ruin your application.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

Wow, OP asked about withdrawing a class with B grade but we are debating adcom vs premed credibility issues!!!

I won't recommend withdrawing with B especially courses like biochemistry or organic chemistry given the difficulty of those classes and there is no guarantee that you will get an A next time.

Yes, occasional W is not bad and so is one C grade but OP is not asking about C.

I am neither a premed nor an adcom but someone who is responsible for paying for both